Bratislava

Today’s exploring would take us to Slovakia. After our daily breakfast melange, we caught a train for the old city of Bratislava. Upon arrival amid cloudy skies and sprinkles, we found the vibe to be very dark. For example: the first point of interest was the Namaste Slobody (Freedom Square). It’s a quite rundown park-type area with a non-working fountain. Looked very abandoned. We pressed on to find other points of interest.

Budapest

We overslept to start the day. Breakfast and then off to the train station. Luckily for us trains leave about every hour for Budapest and the day wasn’t as hot as the forecast called for.  The train was quite crowded. Actually, overbooked but we had assigned seats.  The two hours and 45 minute ride went quickly as we chatted up two couples from Mexico. How did we communicate? They spoke English.  We purchased our return tickets when we got off at Budapest as we feared not getting a seat returning.

Derailed But Not Deterred

Our plan today was to travel to Budapest by train. But when we got up Joan was suffering from a very bad headache. A bit of breakfast and coffee was not enough to make her feel like she could travel so she rested in our room this morning. I (Ed) ventured into the historic area of Vienna for an espresso and a walk to take in a few sites. I saw a plethora of statues, memorials and ornate architecture. After a couple hours, I arrived back at our room to find

Dinner in Vienna

Our overnight flight to London and the connecting flight to Vienna went smoothly and the CAT (city airport train) was great. It is exhausting traveling overnight but we were able to check into our hotel when we arrived around 1pm.

Preparing to Leave

This year we have chosen to walk a trail in eastern Europe that is quite new. The European Peace Walk (EPW) is the brainchild of an Irishman, Grattan Lynch, and was first walked in 2014, 100 years after the start of the first World War. Mr. Lynch mapped and marked it, and enlisted folks along the way that would accommodate the walkers. It has a limited infrastructure and therefore only up to10 walkers will depart each day and only 300 walkers for the 2017 season. It is a commemorative walk, and a route that follows along parts of the Iron Curtain, the defining feature of the Cold War. As we journey we will blog and share the details.